The annual US/South Korea Ulchi Freedom Guardian military exercise – simulating a “full-scale invasion scenario by a nuclear-armed North Korea” – is this week. Tensions are already high because a suspected North Korean landmine exploded in the demilitarized zone two weeks ago, severely wounding two South Korean soldiers. And North and South Korea recently resumed the practice of using loudspeakers to “blast propaganda messages at each other,” something they had foregone for more than a decade.

Since the end of World War II, North Korea has displayed sharply differing levels of cooperation on the international stage. Might its pattern of behavior have something to do with social mood?

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